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BE a CITIZEN SCIENTIST for NASA

A new NASA app will allow folks across the United States to become citizen scientists and collect data for an interactive map. The NASA-sponsored Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program launched the app to allow enthusiastic spectators to document their solar eclipse observations wherever they may be along path.

This nationwide citizen-science experiment is easy to become a part of, and, as highlighted in the new GLOBE Observer (NASA GO) Eclipse App instructional video, requires you to have only a smartphone and a thermometer as you experience a partial or total eclipse.

Total Solar Eclipse

What is a Solar Eclipse?

"From the perspective of a person on Earth, the Sun is eclipsed when the Moon comes between it and Earth, and the Moon is eclipsed when it moves into the shadow of Earth cast by the Sun. Eclipses of natural satellites (moons) or of spacecraft orbiting or flying past a planet occur as the bodies move into the planet’s shadow. The two component stars of an eclipsing binary star move around each other in such a way that their orbital plane passes through or very near Earth, and each star periodically eclipses the other as seen from Earth. When the apparent size of the eclipsed body is much smaller than that of the eclipsing body, the phenomenon is known as an occultation. Examples are the disappearance of a star, nebula, or planet behind the Moon or the vanishing of a natural satellite or spacecraft behind some body of the solar system.""Eclipse." Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 26 Oct. 2012. Accessed 28 Apr. 2017.

The Great American Eclipse

The map above depicts the path of the moon's umbral shadow during the upcoming total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. It also shows the areas on earth from which the sun will only be partially obscured. The path of totality begins in Lincolb City Oregon, and ends in Charleston, South Carolina. The umbral passes into the Atlantic Ocean at 4:09 EST. (Source: nasa.gov)

"Fly-along" with the moon's shadow as it travels over the face of the United States of America in 3:34 minutes!

Published on Jan 1, 2017

This animation takes you on a flyover of the path of total eclipse on August 21, 2017. Nature's grandest sight, a total eclipse of the Sun, passes over the USA from Oregon to South Carolina. The Moon's shadow, where everyone will see the breathtaking sight of totality, races across the USA in 93 minutes. Learn more at www.GreatAmericanEclipse.com